Our beloved Petronas ads: between a fad and a claim of cultural primordiality

Abstract

For Malaysians, of late, the Petronas ads have become synonymous with every local annual festive occasion and the national day. We look out for these 'mini movies' everytime a festive occasion is around the corner and talks about the local cultural signs and codes in the ads linger a good while till the next new ad appears on the local television. Malaysians have become apt observers and expert 'movie reviewers' as a result. By observing ads as a discourse that employs language used in a context, continuously interwoven with situations, intertexts, paralanguage and substance, this paper looks at the prevalence of these Petronas ads and begets the question are they really claims of our primordial cultural identity or just another popular culture made infamous by the demands of a capitalistic society? Far from being solely a commercial call, the ads, as a result of repetition, circulates meanings for the society, meanings that are constructed for the viewers to make sense of the ads as well as the 'Malaysian culture'. Using audio-visual examples from four Petronas festive television ads, this paper explores the salient ideas and meanings that surround the representation of the essence of the ethnic culture like myths and symbols of the Muslim Malay eid celebration. It outlines the dominant myths that surround the representation of the specific ethnicity. When these cultural codes persist through time, then the Petronas ads reflect the society's original nature, or do they?